The Extra's Rise-Chapter 465: Festival of the Red Sun (5)

"The Star Garden. It’s usually restricted to the royal family and their closest advisors." She looked up at the night sky, where the Red Sun hung like a baleful eye among the stars. "But tonight, exceptions can be made."

Reluctantly, I sat beside her, maintaining a careful distance. The crystal walls around us caught the moonlight and refracted it in patterns that reminded me uncomfortably of mana circuitry—the kind used in advanced containment systems.

"Why did you really bring me here, Alyssara?"

She turned to face me fully, and something in her expression shifted—became more vulnerable, more human. "Because I wanted to speak with you. Alone. Without the weight of our respective positions."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It means I know who you are, Arthur. Who you really are." Her voice had dropped to barely above a whisper. "And I think, somewhere deep down, you know who I am too."

I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Don’t you?" She reached out slowly, giving me time to pull away, and touched my face with fingertips that felt both alien and achingly familiar. "There was someone in your past. Someone important. I’m sure of it."

I jerked back as if burned, my heart hammering against my ribs. "Stop it. You don’t know anything about me."

"No?" she agreed, lowering her hand. "Perhaps not everything. Just as you don’t know everything about who you once were. We’ve both been... reshaped by time and circumstance. But the connections remain, Arthur. The threads that bind us can’t be severed so easily."

My mind raced, trying to make sense of her words while fighting the nauseating sense of recognition that threatened to overwhelm me. "This is insane. You’re manipulating me. Whatever you think you know about my past—"

"I don’t think, Arthur. I know." Alyssara’s voice hardened slightly. "I know about someone from your past. About a connection too powerful to be erased completely. I’m sure of it."

I stood abruptly, hands clenched at my sides. "Where are my friends? What have you done with them?"

Her expression softened again, but this time it felt calculated, a mask sliding back into place. "They’re enjoying the Festival, just as I said. Why would I lie about something so easily verified?" ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

"Because something’s wrong. I can feel it." I activated my mana circuits, preparing to forcibly break through whatever communication barrier existed between us and the Academy students. "I’m going to find them. Now."

"Wait," Alyssara said, rising to her feet with that fluid grace that always seemed slightly inhuman. "I haven’t shown you the most important part of the garden yet."

"I don’t care about the garden!"

"You should." Her smile turned sad. "It’s where I first remembered who I was. Who we were to each other."

Despite my better judgment, I hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"Let me show you." She extended her hand. "Just a moment more, Arthur. Then, if you still wish to find your friends, I won’t stop you."

I shouldn’t have taken her hand. Every instinct screamed against it. But that same inexplicable pull that had drawn me to her since our first meeting—that sense of recognition that haunted me—was too strong to resist.

Her fingers intertwined with mine, cool and certain. She led me to the center of the garden, where a small pool reflected the night sky with unnatural clarity.

"Look," she whispered, gesturing to the water’s surface.

I peered down, expecting to see our reflections. Instead, the pool shimmered and darkened, images forming like memories given liquid form. I saw a massive temple complex bathed in red light, people in ceremonial robes kneeling before a man whose face was obscured by an ornate mask.

"The Red Chalice," Alyssara said softly, her voice taking on a resonance I’d never heard before. "The oldest and most powerful cult devoted to the worship of the Red Sun. And that—" she pointed to the masked figure, "—was my father. The Pope."

The image shifted, revealing a younger Alyssara—perhaps sixteen or seventeen—standing beside an almost identical boy. Twins, dressed in ceremonial garb, their faces solemn as they received some kind of blessing.

"My brother and I were born to continue his legacy," she continued, her grip on my hand tightening slightly. "But only one of us could succeed him."

I watched as the scenes unfolded—years of brutal training, rituals conducted in chambers far beneath the earth, sacrifices I couldn’t bear to watch but couldn’t look away from. Through it all, the twins grew, their competition becoming increasingly ruthless until—

"I won," Alyssara stated simply as the pool showed her standing over her brother’s body, blood dripping from her hands. "Not because I was stronger, initially. But because I understood what he didn’t—that true power comes from embracing one’s nature completely, without hesitation or remorse."

The pool’s surface rippled, the images changing to show massive underground chambers beneath what I recognized as the Southern Sea Sun Palace. Within these chambers were rows upon rows of crystal containment units, each holding a figure that seemed both human and not.

"Resurrection," she said simply. "The vampires are ready to emerge, Arthur. After centuries of dormancy, after generations of careful preparation, the time has come. Tonight, with the Red Sun at its zenith, the Vampire Monarch himself will awaken fully, and with him, his entire court."

"This is insane," I said, my voice hoarse. "You’re insane."

Her expression softened unexpectedly. "This is why I wanted you here, Arthur. Because I knew you wouldn’t understand—not immediately. But you will. In time, you’ll see the necessity of it all."

"My friends," I said suddenly, understanding flooding through me. "They discovered this, didn’t they? That’s why you’ve been keeping me isolated. They’re trying to stop you."

A flicker of annoyance crossed her face. "Your friends are persistent, I’ll grant them that. But by now, they’ve likely encountered the Vampire Monarch. And unlike you, they don’t have my protection."

Cold dread settled in my stomach. "What have you done?"

"Nothing yet," she replied, moving toward me with that same liquid grace. "But soon, very soon, the choice will no longer be mine to make. So I’m offering you one last opportunity, Arthur. One choice that could change everything."

She stopped directly in front of me, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in her cyan eyes, could smell that familiar scent of cold metal and starflowers.

"Stay with me," she said, her voice soft but intense. "Stand at my side as the world transforms. As something greater emerges from the ashes of the old order. I can protect you—protect those you care for, even. But only if you choose me."

For one terrible moment, I almost considered it. Not because I believed her twisted vision, but because of that inexplicable pull between us—that sense that we were connected in ways I couldn’t understand.

But then I thought of Rachel, of Cecilia, of Rose and Seraphina. Of Kali and Reika. Of my family in this world. Of Lucifer and Jin. People who had stood by me, fought for me, believed in me.

"No," I said, my voice growing stronger with each word. "I will never choose your side. Because whatever you think we were to each other in the past, you’re not that person now. You’re something else—something twisted by power and ambition."

Something fractured in her expression—a crack in the perfect mask she always wore. For the briefest moment, I saw genuine pain in her eyes, a vulnerability that seemed almost human.

But it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by something cold and calculating.

"I expected as much," she said, her voice taking on that strange resonance again. "But it doesn’t matter, Arthur. Not really. Because I don’t actually need your willing cooperation."

Her smile widened, and even now, it was as pretty as ever.

"I’ll break you," she continued, her voice distorting, harmonics layering over each other until it barely sounded human. "I’ll reshape you until you forget there was ever any choice at all. And in the end, you’ll stand beside me willingly, because you’ll no longer remember any other way to be."

Crimson threads began to emerge from her skin—not blood, but something more primal, more terrifying. They writhed like living things, reaching toward me with apparent hunger.

I stumbled back, channeling what little mana I had left into a defensive barrier, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. Not against whatever Alyssara had become.

The threads surged forward—

And were cut by a near invisible sword strike.

My heart calmed down as I recognized this power.

It was my master, the Martial King, Magnus Draykar.